Sarah Coral Hanson-Young (née Hanson; born 23 December 1981) is an Australian politician who has been a
Senator for South Australia since July 2008, representing the
Australian Greens
The Australian Greens, commonly referred to simply as the Greens, are a Left-wing politics, left-wing green party, green Australian List of political parties in Australia, political party. As of 2025, the Greens are the third largest politica ...
. She is the youngest woman to be elected to
federal parliament, winning election at the age of 25 and taking office at the age of 26. She was the youngest person ever elected to the Senate (although several others have been
appointed at younger ages), until
Jordon Steele-John was elected in 2019 after having been appointed to fill a casual vacancy in 2017.
[Rob Lundie & Martin Lumb "Selected political records of the Commonwealth Parliament" (Parliament of Australia)](_blank)
. Access date: 1 March 2017.
Early life and education
Hanson-Young was born in
Melbourne
Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
,
and grew up near
Orbost in
East Gippsland. In 1999 she was awarded the
Australia Day
Australia Day is the official national day of Australia. Observed annually on 26 January, it marks the 1788 landing of the First Fleet and raising of the Flag of Great Britain, Union Flag of Great Britain by Arthur Phillip at Sydney Cove, a ...
Young Citizen of the Year award for
Gippsland
Gippsland () is a rural region in the southeastern part of Victoria, Australia, mostly comprising the coastal plains south of the Victorian Alps (the southernmost section of the Great Dividing Range). It covers an elongated area of east of th ...
, Victoria.
She graduated from the
University of Adelaide
The University of Adelaide is a public university, public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. Its main campus in the Adelaide city centre includes many Sa ...
with a
Bachelor of Social Sciences
The Bachelor of Social Science (BSocSc or BSocSci) is an undergraduate degree. It typically requires three to four years of study in the social sciences at an institution of higher education, primarily found in the Commonwealth of Nations.
It c ...
in 2002. While studying, she was Environment Officer from 2001 to 2002, and then President from 2002 to 2003, of the
Students' Association of the University of Adelaide.
Career
In 2004, Hanson-Young worked as a bank teller.
From 2004, until she took parliamentary office in 2008, she worked for
Amnesty International
Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...
as Campaign Manager for South Australia and the Northern Territory.
In 2006, she was studying for a postgraduate law degree.
Prior to her entry into politics, she also worked as media advisor to
Mark Parnell
Mark Charles Parnell (born 9 September 1959) is an Australian former politician and parliamentary leader of the SA Greens in the South Australian Legislative Council. He was the first SA Greens representative to be elected to the Parliament o ...
(SA Greens) in the 2006 South Australian election
and was a campaigner with Justice for Refugees (SA).
Political career

Hanson-Young was a candidate for the
South Australian Legislative Council
The Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. Its central purpose is to act as a house of review for legislation passed through the lower house, the South Australian House of Assembly, H ...
in the
2006 state election, ranked fourth on the Greens' ticket.
Hanson-Young was elected senator for South Australia at the
2007 federal election. She was the first Greens senator to be elected in that state, the youngest person—at 25—ever popularly elected to the Australian senate,
and the youngest woman ever elected to the Australian parliament (
Natasha Stott Despoja was younger at her first sitting, but older at the time of her election). Although the South Australian Green primary vote remained relatively unchanged, preferences from the
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also known as the Labor Party or simply Labor, is the major Centre-left politics, centre-left List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia and one of two Major party, major parties in Po ...
provided the required quota for a Greens senator.
Hanson-Young became the focus of attention on 18 June 2009, when the Senate President ordered the removal of her two-year-old daughter from the Senate chamber during a division. The rules of parliament at the time did not allow for senators or members to bring their children into the chamber. Public reaction on the matter was divided, and ignited a debate on accommodating children and their careers in the workplace.
Despite a delay of seven years, the incident led directly to a change in the rules of both the House of Representatives and Senate, which now allow MPs and senators to care for their children for short periods in the chamber.
Hanson-Young challenged
Christine Milne for the Green deputy leadership in October 2010, but she was unsuccessful. Hanson-Young was critical of the Greens supporting the minority Labor
Gillard government, and wanted the party to negotiate with the Liberal Party.
However, plans for these negotiations were stopped by Milne.
Following the resignation of
Australian Greens
The Australian Greens, commonly referred to simply as the Greens, are a Left-wing politics, left-wing green party, green Australian List of political parties in Australia, political party. As of 2025, the Greens are the third largest politica ...
leader
Bob Brown in 2012, she was again nominated for the deputy leadership but lost by an undisclosed margin to
Adam Bandt.
Hanson-Young was re-elected to the Senate at the
2013 federal election and again at the
2016 double dissolution election.
In December 2013, Hanson-Young, along with Senators
Louise Pratt
Louise Clare Pratt (born 18 April 1972) is an Australian politician who has been a Senator for Western Australia since 2016 and will leave office on 30 June 2025, She was previously a Senator from 2008 to 2014. She is a member of the Labor Part ...
(ALP) and
Sue Boyce (LNP) established a cross-party working group on marriage equality.
In August 2016, Hanson-Young was replaced as the Greens' Immigration spokesperson by
Nick McKim. She retained the senior portfolio areas of education and finance.
Hanson-Young won a further six-year senate term in the 2019 federal election, with her party receiving 10.9% of first preference votes, as well as a 5.03-point swing in her favour.
As of 2021, Hanson-Young acts as the spokesperson for the following:
* Arts, Media & Communications
* Tourism
* Transport and Infrastructure
* Environment & Water
* Gambling
Hanson-Young was elected as Manager of Greens Business following the
2025 Australian Federal Election
The 2025 Australian federal election was held on Saturday, 3 May 2025, to elect members of the 48th Parliament of Australia. All 150 seats in the Australian House of Representatives, House of Representatives were up for election, along with 40 ...
.
Defamation case
In July 2018,
Liberal Democrats senator
David Leyonhjelm suggested Hanson-Young should "stop shagging men", during a parliamentary debate on women's safety, in response to a parliamentary interjection by Hanson-Young which Leyonhjelm interpreted as her labelling "all men being rapists". Hanson-Young had described the idea of all men being rapists as "absurd". In response to Leyonhjelm's interjection, Hanson-Young called Leyonhjelm a "creep" before he told her to "fuck off". Hanson-Young called for Leyonhjelm to resign after Leyonhjelm refused to apologise and commenced crowd fundraising to pay for legal proceedings to sue him for
defamation
Defamation is a communication that injures a third party's reputation and causes a legally redressable injury. The precise legal definition of defamation varies from country to country. It is not necessarily restricted to making assertions ...
, claiming that any damages awarded would be donated to charity.
On 14 August 2018, the
Greens moved a motion in the Senate to censure Leyonhjelm for his remarks against Hanson-Young which passed 30–28. In the defamation court case,
Derryn Hinch
Derryn Nigel Hinch (born 9 February 1944) is a New Zealand-born media personality, politician, actor, journalist and published author. He is best known for his career in Australia, on Melbourne radio and television. He served as a Senator for ...
gave evidence that Hanson-Young had said "women would not need protection" (in the forms proposed by the bill) "if men stopped raping women", and that this did not mean all men raped women. In 2019, Court Justice
Richard White ruled in favour of Hanson-Young, awarding her $120,000 in damages.
Published works
*
Awards and recognition
In 2021, Hanson-Young was selected as a Bloomberg New Economy Catalyst. As part of the program, she attended the annual New Economy Forum held in Singapore, and the Bloomberg New Economy Catalyst Retreat that same year.
Personal life
Hanson-Young was married to former local government councillor Zane Young; the couple divorced in 2011.
They have one child.
In April 2022, she married the director of progressive think-tank
The Australia Institute,
Ben Oquist
Benjamin Richard Oquist (born 1968 or 1969) is an Australian political analyst, commentator and communications strategist.
Oquist was (2015 to 2022) the Executive Director of The Australia Institute, an independent Australian think tank conduc ...
.
References
External links
Sarah Hanson-Young official website*
*
*
Parliamentary biographySA Greens websiteIntroductory interview on Triple J's Hack programme 18 August 2008(audio mp3 format)
Summary of parliamentary voting for Senator Sarah Hanson-Young on TheyVoteForYou.org.au
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hanson-Young, Sarah
1981 births
Living people
Australian Greens members of the Parliament of Australia
Australian republicans
Australian LGBTQ rights activists
Members of the Australian Senate
Members of the Australian Senate for South Australia
Politicians from Adelaide
People from Orbost
Politicians from Melbourne
Women members of the Australian Senate
University of Adelaide alumni
21st-century Australian politicians
21st-century Australian women politicians